Ask Steve Perry

[Kriszilla]

It always helps me to think of her as Billie, not Newt. That way I don't get images of little girls in my head.

Although my version of Earth Hive is combined with Nightmare Asylum into one novel and Billie and Wilks are used instead of Newt and Hicks.

[Thedus]

The sex never bothered me in Steve's novels.  It was handled tastefully and added to the humanity of the stories.  We got to see how Billie and Beuller felt... their emotions... their tenderness.  I think it played wonderfully against the backdrop of fear, death, destruction, and isolation.  The one thing that the ALIEN and ALIENS were really about was the people and their humanity.  Steve really captured that in his novels.  The films didn't have sex - not until ALIEN 3 - but seeing that side of humanity in the novels really helped paint a picture of who the characters were, and what kind of world they were a part of.

[Kriszilla]

I agree totally. My last post sort of made it look like I'm squeamish about the sex scenes, but tbh it doesn't bother me. Just makes the characters seem more human, and makes it even more surprising when you discover Bueller's true nature.

[steveperry]

Is it easier to work with bantam or darkhorse press?

Or do both have their advantages?

I haven't had any problems with either. Bantam was the default publisher for years, and I knew and liked the editors there. When Dark Horse started doing their own books, I talked to Mike Richardson, offering my advice on how best to set up things on the editorial end. And their editors are just as professional as those as Bantam, so either way, I'm good. Biggest advantage is, I can drop by the Dark Horse offices and say hello from where I live -- NYC is much longer haul.

As for the comment about smut? Well, I wasn't writing these things for my mother, but for people who might actually think about sex now and then, i.e., adults. I never got any complaints, either from editors or fans, leastways, until now,  so I figured they mostly must have been okay with it.

You might not be a prude, but if you think there was that much unnecessary sex in the novels, that's your opinion. You are entitled to it, but we disagree.   

Way I see it, healthy sex is not smut, and the relationships came from the graphic novels. They don't use the f-word in the comics, either, but real people under stress often do, so I made the language in the books a little more realistic while I was at it. 

As for doo-dads, it is a science fiction series -- goes with the territory.

[SiL]

I'm not seeing how that answered the question, but it probably does *shrugs*

Having just watched Resident Evil Extinction might have something to do with it. Who knows.

As for doo-dads, it is a science fiction series -- goes with the territory.

And yet the Alien movies were devoid ...

[Kimarhi]

One could argue the introduction of earth as a primary setting for two out of the three original stories played a part in the bringing up of doodads.  Simply more culture on earth than there is in space on single ships and sparsely populated planets.

[Corporal Hicks]

What do-dads we talking about anyway? I can only remember things like plasma cannons and holo projectors.

[SiL]

There was one scene I can remember where they're studying the Alien on Earth, and I ended up skipping a few pages cos I couldn't keep up with all the joined words.

[Bug Hunt]

Hey Steve Perry,

Your books are awesome, especially Earth Hive. I was wondering, why were Hicks and Newt changed to Wilks and Billie because I always saw your novels as a continuation of the Aliens storyline with Hicks and Newt, and not in keeping with the frankly terrible Alien 3. Was it your original intention to have Hicks and Newt in the novel instead of Wilks and Billie and if so did Dark Horse or publisher want you to change this? Do you think a reprint of Earth Hive with the inclusion of  Hicks and Newt will be made in the near future? Because I really think that fans would be able to relate to Hicks and Newt more than Wilks and Billie. For example Ripley is in Nightmare Asylum and she died in Alien 3, so why can't Hicks and Newt be in Earth Hive?

[Kimarhi]

Grasping for straws my young apprentice.

Ripley in the novels was an android.  It wasn't the same ripley seen on films or the first iterations of the comics.

[Corporal Hicks]

And the names were changed because throughout DH media they were changed.

[Thedus]

To further Corporal Hicks' statement: DH went back and changed the names to remain consistent with the events in ALIEN3.  The original comics featuring Hicks and Newt were published in 1990... 2 years before ALIEN3 was released.  So in the mid 90's DH went back and re-issued the TPBs of the three comic series with new character names and new titles.  ALIENS, ALIENS vol. 2, and ALIENS: Earth War became Outbreak, Nightmare Asylum, and Female War.

[SM]

The original comics featuring Hicks and Newt were published in 1990..

1988.

[Thedus]

Sorry. You're absolutely right.  I was thinking about the hard bound trade versions.

[steveperry]

Hey Steve Perry,

Your books are awesome, especially Earth Hive. I was wondering, why were Hicks and Newt changed to Wilks and Billie because I always saw your novels as a continuation of the Aliens storyline with Hicks and Newt, and not in keeping with the frankly terrible Alien 3. Was it your original intention to have Hicks and Newt in the novel instead of Wilks and Billie and if so did Dark Horse or publisher want you to change this? Do you think a reprint of Earth Hive with the inclusion of  Hicks and Newt will be made in the near future? Because I really think that fans would be able to relate to Hicks and Newt more than Wilks and Billie. For example Ripley is in Nightmare Asylum and she died in Alien 3, so why can't Hicks and Newt be in Earth Hive?

At the time of the first novelizations, it was  legal/contractual thing with Fox -- we couldn't use Hicks and Newt in the books, and had to come up with alternative names. They owned the property, and that was part of the deal if DH wanted to do the novels. I think they were worried it would conflict with later movies.

The Alien movies weren't devoid of technology -- it was just that most of it was visual and not explained.
In a novel, you don't have the luxury of pictures, you have to try and show things using words. So you have to name them and describe them. Traditionally science fiction novels tend to have a lot of tech-toys and made-up words -- neologisms. I always figure if you are bright enough to be reading an SF novel, you can either figure out what the made-up words are from context, or look them up, if it want to know what they mean. I like to give my readers credit for a certain amount of smart ...